I'm Sioux Roslawski and this is my blog about writing, dogs, grown-up children, menopause, the joy of a marvelous book, classroom teaching in general, and specifically, the teaching of writing. You can email me at sroslawski(at)yahoo(dot)com.

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Take a Few Whacks At It--Like a Pinata

Late last week I had a critique night looming over my head, and nothin' to share. Wednesday evening would be here all-too-soon. Also pushing my procrastinator's button was an anthology's deadline. I wanted to submit something, but had not started anything until Saturday night, when I sat down and wrote...a whopping three sentences. Crapola. On Sunday evening, instead of working on lesson plans when I had some spare time, I added to my piece. Now it was about a third or so done. Monday evening, Adam Levine was beckoning me ("The Voice" was on NBC) my muse cooperated a bit, and I made a bit more headway. But still, no end in sight.. On Tuesday night, I got within sight of the finish line. However, it lacked some oomph here and there and it lacked cohesiveness. When I woke up on Wednesday morning, I was able to finish it and do some much-needed polishing. After some extremely-needed critique from the WWWPs last night, I submitted my story...just a few minutes ago.

photo by starmunki

Last week the piece felt really forced. There wasn't anything easy about it. However, after working on it for a few days, and taking several whacks at it, the words busted loose...just like candy from a piñata. When the words are dammed-up, let your writing sit for a day or two. Make several attempts. And if the writing doesn't flow then, take a big stick...and whack at it until something busts loose...

If I'm really stuck, I save the file (with the first line as the title). Then when I have time to write, I look through my folder of first lines and pick one to work on - often, I don't remember writing it in the first place, so it doesn't feel forced - it feels like a good place to begin.

I'm not so sure about the whacking. I might get carried away. But I agree about making the attempts. I seed the garden. Let it out in all its craptastic splendor. And you're right. A few days later, it's easier to prune the weeds and add fast-acting Miracle Grow.